


build me up, buttercup

by ghibliterritory



Category: Ghostbusters (Movies 1984-1989)
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Childhood Friends, Ignoring the fact that they didn't meet until adulthood and pretending they were childhood friends, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 08:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghibliterritory/pseuds/ghibliterritory
Summary: A glimpse into a regular summer day for the Ghostbusters, long before they would even become the Ghostbusters.





	build me up, buttercup

Summer days had never been really special to Egon. He’d grown to appreciate the time away from school, but before this summer, it hadn’t been all that different. Same environment, same routines, same boredom- even with his best friend Ray by his side, the routine felt the same with his strict parents and Ray’s obnoxiously overprotective mother.   
  
Thankfully, towards the end of the school year, they’d made a friend who had really opened up their world views. Peter Venkman. He came to town with the circus, and if that wasn’t exciting enough to a kid, the rest felt like extra cherries on top.   
  
Today had been the first of many quiet days. They sat in what had become sort of a clubhouse for the boys, which was really just an old shed Ray’s dad used to use for carpentry. Egon sat nestled up in the corner, his attention on a book while Peter and Ray tinkered with a radio. He was rather intrigued by the reading in front of him. It was Oscar Wilde, something his parents might have burned if they caught him with it, but he was in love with it.   
  
“Aw,  _ shit _ , not again!”   
  
Egon looked up from the book in his hands, turning attention over to a small bit of forming smoke coming from the radio. Ray pushed a pair of makeshift goggles onto his head, scratching it a bit. “Why does this thing keep blowing up in our faces? I didn’t even know radios could do that.”

  
“Because you keep wiring it wrong, stupid.” Peter shot back in his usual deadpan tone, picking up the radio carefully. “You’re messing with the… the wires that connect it to radio waves, we need to fix the wires that actually make it work!”   
  
“Why don’t we just get some new batteries?” Ray suggested, earning him a smack to the head from Peter. Egon put his book down gently and made his way over, taking the radio to look at.   
  
“That would be smarter. You did try new batteries first before tampering with this thing, right?” He asked. Peter scowled, snatching the radio back. “Of course I did! I’m not an idiot.” He claimed. “You guys are the geniuses of this operation, you should know how to fix a radio.”   
  
Ray took off his goggles, sighing. “Forget it, Venkman, if the batteries won’t fix it, it’s probably unfixable.” He said, reaching a bit behind him to grab a nearby cigarette carton. He’d hardly had time to grab a stick before Peter snatched  _ that _ as well, pulling out a cigarette for himself. He handed to carton over to Egon, which he only took to put back down on the floor. “We can always just buy a new one. I mean, we have the money, right?”   
  
“I wish.” Peter frowned, blowing out smoke as he spoke. “I’ve got, like, two bucks maximum. And I doubt you jackasses are doing enough work to get the kind of money needed for a radio.” “Hey, I work a bit!” Ray spoke up. “My dad pays me and my brother to do chores. He doesn’t pay Jean though.” He muttered, frowning a bit as he mentioned that, before shrugging and taking another puff of his cigarette.   
  
Egon furrowed his brow and pushed his glasses up onto his nose. “Still, probably not enough for a good radio. No radio is better than a cheap one.” He noted. Peter groaned and flopped onto his back, cigarette nearly flying out of his mouth. “Well, what in the hell are we supposed to do about it? My dad’s gonna slaughter me if he figures out I broke the damn thing.”   
  
“You  _ broke _ it?” Egon asked, to which Peter hummed. “No, not really, but my dad will think I did anyway.” He explained. Egon nodded at this. It made enough sense, he supposed- his parents would think the same way if he were prone to trouble.   
  
Ray stood up from his spot on the floor, stomping out his cigarette. “Come on, guys, let’s at least try to think of something! Or at least let’s find somewhere we can hang around to listen to the radio, I need the music to think straight.” He huffed. Peter sat up again, propping himself on his elbows. “Like where?”   
  
“The malt shoppe?” Egon suggested. The other boys paused, thinking, before shrugging. “Sure, why not?” Peter said, standing and flicked his cigarette to the side. Egon stood with a hand from Ray, which he had to admit, he didn’t let go of right away, but when he did after a second, he shoved it away into his pocket. “We could get a float or two to split between us.   
  
“Screw your sharing, I’m getting my own.” Peter stated before heading out. Ray went to follow with Egon beside him, before he paused. Egon raised a brow. Ray only smiled at him. “I’ll share with ya, Spengs. We can get a sundae just to flash it in Venkman’s face.” He said, stepping out of the shed. Egon felt his lips twitch.   
  
The broken radio stayed discarded on the floor as Egon left last, off to join his friends for the most exciting part of a barely exciting day.


End file.
